Roberta Elizabeth Hampton, 1929-2023
IMB Photo
Roberta Elizabeth Hampton, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Mexico and Brazil, died May 9, 2023. She was 93.
Roberta was born August 11, 1929, in Piedmont, Oklahoma, to Leb A Hampton and Ona Irene (Stephens) Hampton. She graduated from Guthrie High School in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and received the Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and the Master of Religious Education (M.R.E) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 1954, the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board) appointed Roberta as a missionary to Mexico.
Roberta served as a missionary in Mexico from 1954 to 1957. From 1957 to –1965, she served in the Richmond, Virginia, offices of the FMB as editor of Missionary Education Literature. Later she served the North Brazil Mission in Recife, Pernambuco, as public relations counselor, the South Brazil Mission with the Brazilian Baptist Home Mission Board (Junta de Missoes Nacionais da CBB) for 16 years, and she worked with the Brazilian Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union (UFMBB) until retiring on September 1, 1994.
After retiring, she returned to the United States and lived in Oklahoma, and then in 2000, she moved to Lamar, Missouri, to be close to her family. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Lamar.
Roberta was preceded in death by one brother, H.R. “Rusty’ Hampton; three sisters, Iva Jean Laepple, Lou Scroggs, and Wanda Johnston; two nephews, Charles Hampton, and Tom Laepple; and two nieces, Carol Melton and Marsha Witham.
Roberta is survived by brother-in-law, Richard Scroggs; nieces and nephews Mary Flowers (Chuck), Joy Hampton, Kathy Sanders (David), Steve Laepple (Deanna), Gary Melton, Barbara Laepple, Wayne Johnston (Patty), Bonnie Kime, Darrel Johnston (Susie), Larry Johnston, Connie Smith (Greg), and Christi Renfro (Kent); as well as numerous great-nieces and great-nephews.
A funeral service was held May 15, 2023, at the First Baptist Church of Lamar, Missouri, with burial in Memory Gardens Cemetery in Lamar.
Read an obituary here.